Inside Holyrood: Instead of adding powers, SNP subtracts

Published Date: 13 October 2008 "WHAT the SNP have achieved is an argument for more powers for us and less for them." This off-the-cuff quip from a senior councillor was about the dispute between local authorities and the Scottish Government over free school meals, but it adds to a growing doubt over what the SNP's strategy in government is actually achieving. ould it be that the actions of Alex Salmond & Co have somehow undermined the case for more powers for Holyrood? The issue that brought this whole business to a crunch is as follows: councils promised to provide free school meals as part of the "historic" concordat signed last year, pointing out the concordat gave them the freedom to spend money as they wanted. So the concordat's unintended consequence was to rob the Scottish Government of its ability to enforce key... [read full story]